The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1887-12-02
A TALE OF BLOOD.

les and Shield, on tue subject OF MiSSl
u sippi peniteutiary lease system, I'll
&C. source of the States blood none
e. revenue. The frticlc is one of va
IL liable statistics, not the least in
Or pOrtant among them being an eA
W tract from the report Of The com
u mittee of the Legislature of 1884
70 which he says was surrepiitiouSll
S suppressed, and do not appear on th,
printed journals of the Legislature
The writer was present when that
. report was presented, aud remem
. bers the eloquencc that it ELECTED
t from a copper-colored Representa-.
tive, IN which the speakers whole
soul flowed out in the interest OF
. his rlce, many of whose bleaching
bones the carton crows had left upon
/ the old stamping grounds OF muir
derOuS lesseeS. For once we felt
, upon u cheeks Il tinge of shame
|, tor our own race. But that such u
system should have been continued
after that report, and after suisse
quent Developments not less start.
ling and blood curdling, is a crying
shame. The people of Mississippi
have been deluded loug enough by
the vanished reports of the pimps
and miniOns of the bosses given in
lieu of truth suppressed. They tell
us now that the treatment of the
leased cOnvicts sis all that could
be expected, 'and invited guestsand
invited committees allow them
selves to be made tools of for giving
good reports. But occasionally the
truth comes to light and we are
reminded that the leopard has not
changed its spots.
Mr.. Marshall says: GA careful
Investigation of the official reports
of ~non-leasing States, taken at ram
dom, such as New Hampshire,
Ohio, Iowa and Illinois shows their
death rate to DC but 2 per cent. per
annum, while Mississippi averages
over TO-" Keeping in mind, then,
that Mississippi is IA healthy State,
with IA climate more favorble to
prison life than colder States, we
brought to the hOrTfying rea-
tor the difference. This we
get from an extract from that com.
mittee report of 1884, above refer. ,
red to. Being a statement of truth :
it is not a very chasto narrative, or I
pleasant to read, but the tenacity :
which the monster system :
OF and will not down, is our :
tor reproducing it, that the 3
manhood of Mississippi may be
aroused TO join the crusade lot =
which Mr.. Marshall is i noble rep
'esentat:ve), for the destruction of y
he States legalizcd brutal aud
nurderous human machine. The {
GLOWING is the extract: C
CIV bile we admit that the State b
has been run without expense 0
o the State, We can but say that it u
las been done at the expense of p
l!ves-livcs of helpless, Il
nanacIed being. Those Il
charge of II convict labor, p
10Th on the farm and public works. s.
o tar as bias come to cur knowledge. Is
used the most inhuman and Il
Uncommon modes of punishment, L
nd totally unauthorized by law p
ften pulling the prisoner until hp 81
'ould faint and, in instances II
there The prisoner has been report ic
d as escaping, he has been shot q
own and killed-and in no in. 81
lance of sudden death have we II
cen able 10 find that a coroner or - Ii
OF inquest has been called-by IL
ne lash oil their naked backs, o.
lille the sufferer was by four
trong men, each holdiuga baud or CT
rot, stretched over the frozen III
round or over stnmpS and logs, III
nd beaten often with 800 stripes SC
t a times, which more than once, it u
thought, resulted in the death of c.
ne convict; men unable to work U
ave been driven to death. n
When working in the swamps or II
clds they (the co%nvictS) were re- III
lsed water, and we're compelled to OF
rink out OF the swamp or pillow y
in the IieldS in which they u
lbored, although clear water was u
ear at hand. One instance of this Pr
as on the New Orleans aud North. oil
Railroad, where the owners pi
ere unable to get the contractors d
} work at a gwen point, known as I'll
aney Swamp, uncOmmOnly hard, p;
nd unhealthy. They hired from to
lb-lessees the labor of co~nvicts, at w
1.75 per day, to do this work bl
hey were placed in this swamp, in IN
alter ranging above their knees, in
most a nude state, spading IN III
.ney and rooty ground, with their dc
are feet chained together by chains he
lat fretted Into the flesh, COMPEL ali
I fo affapI IN fba aa1lo IF uufuro to-